Quadriplegic inmate paralyzed in beating sues state Corrections department over injuries
A lawyer for a female inmate who was brutally beaten by staff at Lowell Correctional Institution and is now a quadriplegic is asking a federal judge to intervene so they can document the extent of her injuries in her pending lawsuit against the state.
Cheryl Weimar, 51, who has a history of mental illness and physical disabilities, is being cared for in a hospital in Ocala, near Lowell, the state's main prison for women and the largest women's prison in the nation.
The Department of Corrections has refused to let Tallahassee lawyer Ryan Andrews or his team take photos of Weimar since the Aug. 21 attack, first reported by the Miami Herald.
“We’re allowed to see her but not photograph her,” Andrews said. “If she was in prison we would need a court order to take photos but she’s in a hospital. What is the security risk?”
Andrews filed an emergency motion this morning with U.S. Judge Mark Walker in the Northern District of Florida seeking permission to take photos and videos of Weimar’s injuries. He noted that English television personality Piers Morgan was recently allowed in Lowell to interview inmates for a documentary on female killers.
"The hypocrisy of preventing access to document my client's condition with pictures and videotapes, is especially apparent when Piers Morgan was able to enter Lowell CI to film a Netflix special that fetishizes women killers, but pictures of my client who was brutally beaten by (FDC) employees is not permitted," Ryan said.
An investigation into the beating is under way with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as lead investigative agency and help from the FDC Office of Inspector General, spokeswoman Michelle Glady said.
“We recognize that preliminary reports from this incident are concerning. We’re committed to examining all the details regarding this situation and ensuring appropriate action is taken,” FDC Secretary Mark Inch said.
Meanwhile, Glady said, the officers involved "have been reassigned to posts that do not have contact with inmates, pending the outcome of this investigation."
Information related to the incident is limited while the investigation is ongoing, she said.
"When the investigation is complete, the report will be made available to the public," Glady added.
As far as the lawsuit goes, the FDC hadn't been served yet and couldn't comment on pending litigation, Glady said.
In the lawsuit filed by Andrews Tuesday in the U.S. Northern District of Florida, the Aug. 21 attack on Weimar was graphically described: Four guards beat her within an inch of her life and broke her neck.
“She is now a quadriplegic because of the Defendants’ excessive use of force,” the lawsuit said.
Her injuries are so extensive she can’t talk or move, Andrews told the Democrat. He had to resort to communicating with her via the alphabet because of a tracheostomy tube.
They are seeking damages that her civil rights were violated under the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The lawsuit also names Karl Weimer, Cheryl’s husband. He brings a claim for loss of consortium.
Cheryl Weimar has been an inmate since January 21, 2016, and was due to be released Feb. 9, 2021. She was convicted of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and sentenced to six years, 8 months and 28 days .
Weimar complained that she couldn’t perform her task assignment to clean toilets because she had a hip condition well documented by prison officials, and declared a medical emergency. Prison policy requires staff to call medical personnel once an inmate declares a medical emergency.
Instead, one of the guards got angry with her and a confrontation followed, the lawsuit said.
The confrontation escalated, and Weimar declared an "inmate psychological emergency," the lawsuit said. One or more officers slammed Weimar to the ground, beat her with blows to her head, neck and back, the complaint said.
After they beat her, the defendants dragged her “like a rag doll to a nearby wheelchair, allowing her head to bounce along the ground along the way,” the complaint said.
The complaint alleges the four officers dragged her outside the compound where they continued to beat her in an area not covered by surveillance cameras.
Besides breathing through a tracheostomy tube, Weimar is being fed through a PEG tube, and will likely require around-the-clock medical care for the rest of her life, the complaint said.
“This malicious and sadistic beating of the defenseless plaintiff… caused Cheryl Weimar to suffer life-threatening and permanent injuries,” the complaint said.
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